How to apply for probate in Ireland

At the highest level, the probate process in Ireland involves three things: proving the will is valid (or establishing who can act if there is no will), settling any inheritance tax liability with Revenue, and then distributing the estate to the people entitled to it. The Probate Office of the High Court issues the Grant that gives you legal authority to do this.

This guide covers the whole process end-to-end. Skim the section that applies to your situation, follow the links for depth on any specific step, and use the Readiness Check at the end if you want a personalised report on your own estate.

Do you actually need probate?

Not every estate needs a Grant of Probate. Under the small estates procedure, accounts and savings of €25,000 or less held solely in the name of the person who died can often be released without probate, subject to each institution's own policy. Joint assets with a surviving spouse or civil partner typically pass by survivorship and fall outside the estate. Pension benefits and insurance policies with a named beneficiary usually pass directly to that person.

Probate is almost always required where the estate includes a sole-name property, a sole bank account over €25,000, or any single holding that the institution refuses to release without a Grant. Read the full breakdown on whether you need probate.

Grant of Probate and Grant of Administration

There are two main Grants. A Grant of Probate is issued where there is a valid will and a named executor willing to act. A Grant of Administration is issued where there is no will (intestacy) or where there is a will but no executor able to act.

The distinction matters because the application process, the documents required, and who can apply differ between the two. If you are the named executor in a valid will, you apply for Probate. If there is no will, the nearest next of kin usually applies for Letters of Administration. Full guide to Probate vs Administration.

Personal application or solicitor

You can apply for probate yourself. Most personal applications involve straightforward estates: a house, a couple of bank accounts, maybe a pension, left by a parent to their children. The Probate Office has dealt with personal applicants for decades and the staff are used to them.

The alternative is to hire a solicitor. A solicitor will typically charge between €2,000 and €5,000 for probate on a standard estate, sometimes more if the estate is large or complex. A personal application costs a few hundred euro in court fees plus your own time.

The question is not "which is cheaper." It is "which is right for your situation." You should use a solicitor if the estate is contested, includes overseas assets, has significant business or agricultural holdings, involves minors or incapacitated beneficiaries, or is above roughly €1 million in value. For a standard estate, a personal application is usually the right call. Full comparison with a decision tree.

The SA2: what Revenue needs before you can lodge

Before you can lodge your probate papers with the Probate Office, Revenue needs a Statement of Affairs (Probate) form, known as the SA2. This is filed online through Revenue's myAccount or ROS and lists every asset and liability of the person who died, valued at the date of death.

Once the SA2 is accepted, Revenue issues a Notice of Acknowledgement. You include this Notice with the papers you lodge at the Probate Office. No SA2 means no probate, and this is the single most common cause of delays for personal applicants. Full SA2 walkthrough.

What the SA2 actually asks for

Before you start the SA2 itself, gather your source documents. The form has four sections and each needs specific information in specific categories.

The first section is basic details of the person who died: full name, date of birth, date of death, PPS number, last permanent address, marital status, country of domicile. Straightforward if you have the death certificate and the person's papers to hand.

The second section is where the work is: every asset and every liability, categorised under Revenue's headings. Immoveable property (houses, land), moveable property (vehicles, personal possessions), bank accounts, investments, life policies, pension benefits, other. Each entry needs a valuation as at the date of death, not the current value. Liabilities include the mortgage, credit card balances, utility arrears, and funeral expenses.

The third section lists every beneficiary, the value of what they are taking, their relationship to the person who died (which determines their CAT group), and their PPS number. This section is where Revenue checks whether any CAT liability arises.

The fourth section is the declaration. The personal representative signs electronically. This is a legal declaration that the information provided is true and complete to the best of the applicant's knowledge. Penalties apply for false declarations.

The Notice of Acknowledgement usually arrives in your myAccount inbox within a few working days of submission. For straightforward estates it is almost immediate; Revenue occasionally queries individual line items on more complex returns before issuing.

How long probate takes in Ireland

As of March 2026, the Dublin Probate Office is processing personal applications in approximately 10 to 12 weeks from the appointment date, with a further three weeks for the Grant to be issued by post. The total time from lodging to Grant is therefore 13 to 15 weeks for Dublin applications. (Current processing times on courts.ie.)

District registries outside Dublin are often faster. Cork, Galway, and Limerick typically issue Grants within 6 to 10 weeks. Times vary and should be checked directly with the registry before you rely on them.

Total estate administration, from the date of death to final distribution, usually takes six to twelve months. This includes pre-lodgement work (gathering information, getting valuations, completing the SA2), Probate Office processing, and post-Grant work (collecting assets, paying debts, filing CAT returns, distributing to beneficiaries). Full timeline breakdown.

Before you start: practical first steps

If the death has just happened and you are the executor, there is a small number of things to do in the first two weeks that make the rest of the process much smoother. In no particular order:

1. Order five or six certified copies of the death certificate from the General Register Office. Institutions generally want their own copy and will not always return one sent by post.
2. Locate the original will. It is usually held by the person's solicitor, or at their home in a safe or filing cabinet. The original, not a photocopy, is needed.
3. Register with Revenue myAccount if you do not already have an account. The security code arrives by post within 5 to 10 working days and the entire SA2 cannot start until you have it.
4. Notify each bank, credit union, pension provider, insurance company, and state body where the person held an account. A single initial letter per institution stating the date of death and enclosing a copy of the death certificate is enough at this stage.
5. Ask each institution, in writing, for confirmation of the balance at the date of death. This is the number Revenue needs on the SA2, not the current balance.
6. If the person owned a home, arrange a formal valuation as at the date of death. A letter from a local estate agent stating the market value at the date of death is the usual format. A Revenue query on "house valued too low" is one of the most common SA2 corrections.
7. Tell the main beneficiaries that probate is being arranged and that you will keep them updated. A short email at each stage is enough; silence is what creates conflict.

This list does not require any specialist knowledge or any expense beyond the death certificate copies and the valuation. Doing it in the first two weeks removes most of the avoidable delay in the later process.

Costs and tax

Two categories of cost matter: the cost of getting the Grant, and the tax the estate or the beneficiaries will pay.

Getting the Grant costs a few hundred euro for a personal application (court fees plus valuations and certified copies) or €2,000–€5,000 for a solicitor application on a standard estate. Full breakdown of probate costs.

Inheritance tax (Capital Acquisitions Tax, or CAT) is charged at 33% on amounts above the relevant group threshold. As of Budget 2026, the thresholds are:

• Group A (parent to child): €400,000
• Group B (siblings, nieces, nephews, grandchildren 18+): €40,000
• Group C (everyone else): €20,000

Aggregation rules apply. Every gift or inheritance received from someone in the same group since 5 December 1991 counts towards the lifetime threshold. A €3,000 Small Gift Exemption applies per donor per year. Spouses and civil partners are fully exempt. Full CAT thresholds guide.

A worked CAT example

To show how this works in practice, take a standard Irish parent-to-child inheritance. A father dies in 2026 and leaves his daughter the family home worth €450,000 and €50,000 in savings. She has received no prior gifts from him.

• Total inheritance: €500,000
• Group A threshold: €400,000
• Taxable amount: €100,000
• CAT at 33%: €33,000

If the daughter meets the conditions for the Dwelling House Exemption (three years' pre-death residence, no other property, six years' continued residence post-inheritance), the €450,000 house is fully exempt. That leaves €50,000 to test against the threshold, which is well under €400,000, so no CAT is due. Full Dwelling House Exemption rules.

The difference between the two outcomes is €33,000, and it turns entirely on whether a single exemption applies. This is why the CAT position is often the first thing to check when an estate has a house in it.

The Executor's Year

Under the Succession Act 1965, executors have 12 months from the date of death before beneficiaries can sue for their share. This is known as the Executor's Year. It is widely misunderstood.

The Executor's Year does not mean probate must be completed in 12 months. It means that, provided the executor acts reasonably, they are protected from legal action for delay during that period. Many estates take longer than 12 months to distribute, particularly where property needs to be sold. What matters is that the executor communicates clearly with beneficiaries about the reasons for any delay. Full Executor's Year guide.

Common questions

A few questions that come up repeatedly from personal applicants.

Can I start gathering information before I get the Grant?

Yes, and you should. The pre-lodgement phase is where the work is. Notifying institutions of the death, requesting balance confirmations, arranging valuations, completing the SA2, and drafting the probate papers can all happen before your Probate Office appointment. The Probate Office processing time is fixed; the pre-lodgement work is where you control the overall timeline.

Do I need a solicitor to swear the Oath?

No. Personal applicants swear the Oath of Executor or Oath of Administrator in person at the Probate Office in front of a Probate Officer on the day of the appointment. A solicitor is not required for this step.

What happens to the bank accounts while I wait for the Grant?

Bank accounts are typically frozen on notification of the death. Direct debits can continue in some cases with the bank's agreement, but the account cannot be emptied, transferred, or closed until the Grant is produced. Joint accounts with a surviving spouse usually pass to the survivor on production of the death certificate and do not need to wait.

Do I pay CAT before or after the Grant?

Beneficiaries pay CAT after they inherit. The executor's role in CAT is to value the estate accurately on the SA2 so that each beneficiary's position is clear, and to hold back enough of the estate to pay any CAT owed by beneficiaries before distribution. Revenue clearance is typically requested before the estate is fully distributed, to confirm there is no outstanding CAT issue.

What if the person who died had debts?

Debts of the estate are paid from the estate before beneficiaries receive anything. Funeral expenses, outstanding tax, mortgage, credit card balances, and utility arrears all rank ahead of bequests. If the estate is insolvent (debts exceed assets), specialised rules apply and a solicitor is essential.

Can the Grant be issued in less than 10 weeks?

In Dublin, rarely. Some district registries (Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford) issue Grants within 6 to 10 weeks. Expedited processing is not generally available for personal applicants. The best way to shorten your total timeline is to do the pre-lodgement work thoroughly so the Probate Office has no queries.

When you actually need a solicitor

There is no prize for applying personally when you shouldn't have. The cases where a solicitor is genuinely necessary are clear. If any of these apply, use a solicitor:

• The will is contested, or family members disagree about the estate
• There are significant assets outside Ireland
• The estate is above roughly €1 million
• There are business assets or a farm requiring relief structuring
• There are minor or incapacitated beneficiaries
• There is a claim under Section 117 of the Succession Act
• The will is in a foreign language, or witnesses cannot be located
• There is no will and the family structure is complex (estranged children, multiple marriages, unclear next of kin)

If none of these apply, a personal application with proper preparation is almost always the right call. Full complexity checklist.

What to do next

If you're not sure where you stand, whether you need probate at all, whether a personal application is realistic, or what your CAT liability is going to be, the Readiness Check is the fastest way to find out. Answer 15 questions and get a personalised six-to-ten-page report emailed to you in minutes.

If you already know you're applying personally, the Preparation Pack is the all-in-one kit: pre-filled SA2 worksheet, beneficiary register, asset valuation tracker, notification letters for 25 institutions, and a step-by-step walkthrough of the Probate Office application.